Aren't most of the teams in super league in financial difficulties. I'd suggest Rugby League in general is in a very unhealthy state. If anybody tries to say otherwise then they are just kidding themselves.

You dont spend much time on here do you? The game is as healthy as it has even been. The game is t*ng money. They say so on the VT and woe be tide you suggest otherwise.

and super league wants to review promotion and relegation by selction only THIS IS WHY RUGBY LEAGUE IS DYING and them idiots at the top cant see it

Not just Super League, not just the National Leagues, not just Rugby League - it's every team in every sport who doesn't have a sugar daddy, but still trying to 'live the dream.'

Generally I'm against mergers because they usually only benefit one club and one set of fans but if what you say is true, surely there is a very strong case for a club representing the whole of Cumbria to be put forward for SL.

Don't get me wrong I appreciate the tradition and history of the Cumbrian clubs, but if what you say is true and fans of the sport would rather watch a SL side over their own, surely there can't be too strong an argument against it?

One good team in a central location, could work in cumbria, cant be worse than the Quims can it

Any game where one of the top clubs announces a deficit 10 times the amount that drove another club to the wall and dosn't bat an eyelid is on a downward spiral.

But hey it'll all turn out right in the end.

Don't forget another sport has a new sponsor , is on another subsciption channel, and is getting bucket loads of media intest except probably from the previous broadcaster ( NRL anyone?)

If a broadcaster decides it dosn't want to pay the same amount for a product but less for more ( M& S were/are renowned for doing that) then the game will survive but no way in its' current form.

The next 12-18 months are crucial to the state of professional RL in this country.

As things stand at the moment I am not sure that the foundations are that strong and the edifice could come tumbling down.

We shall see.

Workington to Barrow is 60 miles down the A595 - which is still single track in places. If you're going to drive an hour and a half or more to watch rugby, you might just as well go down the M6 to Wigan or Saints?

When this happened at Keighley at the end of last season, our former chairman, Neil Spencer, was not allowed to have anything to do with the club as it came out of administration as he's failed the "Fit and Proper person" test on the grounds that an executive director of a club that goes into administration can't be on the board of a Rugby League club for 5 years (I think).

So I'd assume that the RFL wouldn't allow executive members of the Whitehaven board to buy the club out.

The game below SL level is in a pittifull state. Utterly Pittifull. Dwindling crowds and two clubs every season getting points deductions for going bust. Widnes, Rochdale, Gateshead, Doncaster' Whitehaven, Blackpool, all broke at some stage in the last few years. Salford had to borrow a 100k loan of the local council to keep them afloat this season, Quins in dire trouble. My own club York has seen average crowds dive from 1500 to 1200 + last season, down to to about 900 this season and that's with us finishing 3rd after a lackluste but non that bad a season. Workington Gateshead Swinton Rochdale Blackpool and London Skolars all have very very poor crowds sub 400 at times God knows how they keep going, it's so sad but it has to be said outside SL the game is on it's . The only bright spots are Widnes ( Widnes are still on a roll because they are probably going to get a SL license ) Halifax, Sheffield ( Bold move to Bramhall Lane seems to have upped the crowds a little ) Leigh seemed to have steadied the ship a little. Barrow and Toulouse both seemed to have a huge nosedive in crowds this season. Whoever get's the boot out of SL will really really struggle for years.

Workington Town were a great success weren't they

15 miles away from Whitehaven so 2 big "clubs" within a 15 minute drive and they managed a lower fan average than any other team in SL that year...with 2 wins and a draw...as well as shipping 1021 points in 22 games.....that's 46 points a game


I have no doubt that the people of the area would flock to this "central" location you mention as well as have no issues with merging with their local rivals.........they welcomed the opportunity in 1995/96.....



As for Harlequins Rugby League..........idiots like you have no concept of success unless it's your club. The London club have never received funding from the RFL, never finished in a relegation position, never broken the salary cap and now have the most british SL team with 11 cockneys on their books.....yeah, that's failure

They have for the last 3 years been operating at a loss due in part to the RFL not enforcing the Wigan Chairmans commitment to sell his shares, so therefore, if anything, the RFL have hindered the possibility of Quins being a "success" in your eyes.
As I have said before speedy....calling us quims only makes you look like a c()nt